Congress blames Jaya for TN debacle

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee General Secretary K Sakthivel today said the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalitha's arbitrary and condescending approach on seat-sharing and
campaigning had led to the AIADMK-Congress front's electoral defeat in
Tamil Nadu.

In a statement in Madras, countering Jayalalitha for blaming the
Congress for the front's electoral debacle, he said the AIADMK had
allotted to the Congress seats it found difficult to win.

Also, she had launched her campaign even before the
AIADMK's allies could release their poll manifestos and name their
candidates, he added.

Jayalalitha's decision to field a few persons tainted by
corruption charges as AIADMK candidates, he said had provided fodder
to the media campaign against the front.

In her campaign, Jayalalitha did not utter a word about the
Congress leadership, but had portrayed the election as a personal
battle between her and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Saktivel said.

Jayalalitha's boycott of the Villupuram campaign meeting
addressed by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he said had created a
negative impact on the people which the Congress found difficult
to erase.

Sakthivel charged the AIADMK leadership with sabotaging the
chances of some Congress candidates. Former Union minister R Prabhu
would have won had the AIADMK cadres worked harder in Nilgiris, he felt.

If Jayalalitha had taken part at the Villupuram meeting
addressed by Sonia, the TNCC president Tindivanam K Ramamurthy
would have won, he added.

Referring to Jayalalitha's remark that the Congress' failure
to name a prime ministerial candidate was a mistake, Sakthivel
said the Congress had approached the election on the basis of its
principles and not on the strength of personalities.

It has been the Congress' practice to elect the leader of its
parliamentary wing after the polls, he added.